[BN] the know

Body recovered from City Ship Canal after leap from Skyway

Sharon Cantillon/Buffalo News
A person jumped off the Skyway into the City Ship Canal at around noon Wednesday. Rescue workers recovered the body just after 1 p.m. Rural Metro workers are seen here returning their equipment to the ambulance.

A man believed to be in his early 50s parked his vehicle at the top of the Skyway, got out and walked to the edge of the road before jumping to his death early this afternoon, according to Buffalo police.

Members of the department’s underwater recovery team later pulled the body of the man, who is believed to be from West Seneca, from the City Ship Canal near the Buffalo River, said Michael J. DeGeorge, a Buffalo police spokesman.

Police and fire crews rushed to the scene about 12:20 p.m., after a witness called 911. Emergency personnel set up their recovery operation near RCR Yachts Skyway Marina, on Fuhrmann Boulevard near South Michigan Avenue.

Traffic was tied up around Ohio Street and Fuhrmann Boulevard and traffic briefly was diverted from entering the northbound Skyway.